Emerson, which first bid for Rockwell in August, had been expecting activist shareholders to buy shares in Rockwell and pressure the company to engage in merger talks, but that never happened, a hedge fund manager following the situation said.

“The Rockwell Board again rejected our offer, which would have delivered approximately $30 billion of value to Rockwell shareholders,” Emerson chief executive David Farr said Tuesday.

“We are disappointed that the Rockwell Board refused even to discuss the potential combination of our two great companies. Instead of engaging in constructive dialogue, the Rockwell board decided to let this unique and value-generative opportunity go unexplored.”

Emerson now plans to accelerate share repurchases, with plans to buy back up to $1 billion over the next 12 months.

Emerson Electric’s shares in early trading were up 1.8 percent to $63.

Meanwhile, Stephenson’s AT&T reached its deal to buy Time Warner in October 2016, when Hillary Clinton was expected to win the presidential election.

Donald Trump won instead, and Stephenson has failed to convince Trump or his Department of Justice to support his deal. The DOJ last week sued to block the AT&T merger, and US District Judge Richard Leon is expected this spring to rule on the suit.